Minnie was tailing me around, nagging and blabbing about Ace. Everyone knows that he has been bullying whoever sets foot within his visual range for the past few days. And Minnie personally thinks that Ace is up to something worse when he's showing signs of goodness.
"I swear he's giving me the creeps!" Minnie was shaking her head with disgust. "I mean, he's definitely the biggest bully around. Even the teachers don't want him getting into one of his tantrums. He's just evil!
Well, he is.
"But no one can deny that he had been at your side whenever you're in trouble," she blocked my path and folded her arms. "Twice, he'd come running to your side. Twice, he bothered himself with your safety!"
"All right, fine," I raised my hands, surrendering. "Ace was once my friend. Sort of."
Her eyes widened in disbelief. "You befriended that evil ... thing?"
"We did try killing each other first," I told her and walked past her. "But it's not like we're close. I thought we were starting to be good friends, then he decided to ignore me."
"You know what," she said. "No matter what you say, he's evil."
Minnie fell silent the rest of our way to our next class. But the confusion on her face never left.
----
Flexibility is still as excruciating as always. My joints and tendons felt abused. And my back, damn my back! All those back-bending routines are killing me, plus it's really frustrating to watch Minnie do everything like a piece of cake. I've managed to reach my toes now, at last.
I saw Loki looking at me seriously. I know that expression. It's the same as Minnie. Confusion. I nodded at him, and he grinned. I looked away the moment Minnie had pushed me down to reach my toes. Aw. Aw. Aw.
At last, the three-hour flexibility class was over. My body was throbbing and slightly stiff. We head straight to the cafeteria for lunch. Minnie and I were actually pushing each other out of the way. We were too excited about the food, especially when we saw the red and white colored muffin.
Red Velvet's 'n the house, baby.
Anyone who'd seen us would probably think we're in an eating race because we were munching our food too fast.
Both of us choked at the same time and chugged down a gulp of water. We continued eating and choked again. When the last spoonful or rice slid inside our mouths and the last drop of water came after, we leaned back and burped.
"It's time," she said, gravely.
"It's time," I agreed.
We watched the muffins in front of us, hungrily. I could feel my mouth watering at the very sight of it. It looked marvelous.
"What the hell are you two doing?"
"AH!" we squirmed, surprised. I quickly grabbed my cake and backed off. Ace's sidekick and his minions are standing around us now. All of them looked smug.
Minnie stood up and her lips thinned. "Get lost, Morto."
Ace's sidekick chuckled. And his friends did, too.
Minnie, dude. You can't do that, you'll endanger the thing you treasure most. Again.
I quietly helped myself with the cake. It tasted divine. No words can describe.
It happened so fast. So damn fast I nearly choke on my cake. I watched as Minnie dove back and hit Morto's chin with the tip of her foot. It was so fluid I couldn't believe those movie stunts I saw on television were possible. Morton went flying to the next table. Luckily, it was empty.
"Get out of here!" the canteen attendant yelled at us, pissed. "Get out, you brats! Damn it!"
We had better go. But when Minnie was about to take her dessert in possession, one of Morton's friends crushed it with his palm.
Passively, I took another bite and hid the muffin behind my back. Munching as I please, I pray for the guy's well-being. Not.
I rolled my toes and waited for Minnie to lose it, which she did and punched the guy in the face. A second later, and I am torn between eating and running away.
"It was always those guys! Those guys!" she said, and I nodded. She turned to look at me and frowned. "How is it that you always get your dessert to safety?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. "Irish always see them coming."
"What?" she asked, pissed off. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk while your mouth is full?"
I nodded and gobbled up. "I think she did, but I don't remember."
"Ugh," she looked back. "I think we've lost them."
"Yipee."
We turned and headed to the newly built greenhouse. We sat on the bench near it and argued about the brains and brawns thing again. Then, when we wondered what our next class was, we both rose in unison.
"Finally!" she shot her hands up and looked at the sky. "Guns!"
"Yey!" I said. "Yey!" I cheered, raising and withdrawing my hands on the air.
We heard a pfft sound, so we turned around to see who it was. We saw Bee. She's sitting up on the tree's branch. How did she manage to get up there, I have no idea. Bee is the most famous girl around. Aside from being the same girl who wanted to be a general, she's also pretty and strong. First, Ace, then Loki, she ranks third in our class.
"Pathetic," she mumbled.
"Are you talking about us?" asked Minnie and cocked a brow.
"Who else?" she asked. Smiling down at us like an ignoble witch, although she looked more like a fairy. "I've heard about you two. The brain and the brainless."
I gasped, outraged. "She called you brainless, Minnie."
Minnie just looked at me in disbelief. She opened her mouth as if to say something but decided otherwise. For me, it was obvious that there's bad blood between these two.
"Get down here, and I'll show you who's pathetic," Minnie said, and I mentally face palmed myself. It's always her temper that is getting the better of her.
Bee, in one graceful leap, landed effortlessly in front of us. "It appears you don't know me."
"Whoever you are, I'm confident I can take you on," Minnie said and clenched her fist in a defensive stance. Minnie hushed me when I tried to tell her who she was.
Minnie has been dragging me into fights lately.
I shook my head, altering the idea.
Wrong. She always drags you to watch her fights. When did you ever lift a hand to help her? She never asked and probably never will.
The fists landed at each other's face, and both fell back. The first attack, and they're down already. Both of them got up and assaulted each other again. Bee actually is having a hard time. Bet she never knew some girl could actually take her on.
She landed a solid blow on Minnie, and as she was about to fall, she dived back and used the same move she did on Morto. Bee and Minnie both fell down again, Minnie losing her balance and all clutching at the place where Bee's attack landed.
I looked around and realized they were starting to have several spectators. I even saw Sergeant Paris looking a bit annoyed a couple of feet away. What? He's not impressed with his students' combat prowess? If I'm to judge, they're pretty impressive. For kids, that is.
I returned my gaze to the two girls glaring at each other, both chins raised defiantly. Minnie spat out blood while Bee grinned.
I cooed. Minnie tsked. Bee raised a brow, victorious. She did more damage, evidently.
"You're strong," Bee said. Minnie hmph and stood up. "But I'm stronger."
Bee rose. They were about to have a go at it when the Sergeant finally intervened.
"You're not being taught how to fight just to use it against your classmates," he said and stood in between them. "You're supposed to be allies."
"She's no ally of mine," Minnie said and looked up at him.
"She will be," he said, putting a hand over her head. He towered before us kids like some divinity. "You're all allies."
"Yeah, right" Bee nodded, sneering even. "It'll take a million years before I allied myself with the weak."
Sergeant's lips quivered.
"Come on, Minnie," I said. "It's time for our next class."
I pulled her away, bowing my head at the Sergeant. He nodded, and Bee walked the opposite way. We left him there. Minnie should be heading to the infirmary right now, but I knew she won't. Not when Bee's looking at them still.
We hurried to the shooting range and found that almost everyone is present now. They're probably as excited as her. I turned to look at the adults firing at their targets over the glass panel.
Guns. For the love of Yolly, guns.
I frowned for a second when a particular memory flashed before my eyes.
I thought you liked knives?
Huh. Who doesn't?
Of course.
I shrugged off the mental conversation I was having with myself and watched the uniformed soldiers packing.
They left, and we waited outside like a swarm of wasps. I listened to the excitement. Minnie remained quiet.
I saw Bee arrive and witnessed the look she shot at us. There's mockery there. I turned to Minnie and sighed when I realized they had their own quiet war. To make matters worse. We later learned that Bee is better at guns than in combat. I slumped on my bed with a heavy thud. Gravity must be ten times the normal because I couldn't even lift my arms up.
My whole back felt like they were hammered by a baseball bat a hundred times over.
The only difference is I don't have crushed bones, but it felt like it. Well, not really. I've never been hammered by a bat before.
I stared at the ceiling as two of my bunkmates entered.
"Hey," they greeted. Teddy and Duchess belong to a different group. And they became pretty close in just a couple of days. Being bunkmates and classmates at the same time can indeed strengthen the bond. Since day one, everyone had been anxious to have their own packs-- their instincts whispered. And even I heard it clearly. The bigger the group, the stronger they think they are. The bigger the group, the more stable they feel.
Ace's is probably the biggest and meanest out there.
Minnie is my pack. And frankly, I think both of us can agree that we don't need an alpha.
I groaned in pain.
"Hey," I smiled at them.
"You look awful," Duchess said and sat at the foot of my bed. "Do you want some aspirin? I have some spare."
"Oh, thank goodness," I said and looked at her. I opened my palms and she chuckled.
"Why do you always look so battered?" this time, it was Teddy who asked, looking at me with sympathy.
"It's probably that I'm a loser, and I'm not a good shot," I told them as Duchess put the aspirin on my palm. "I don't know why that Stiles wants me to shoot at targets that hard."
"You had Private Stiles huh," said Teddy. "Ours is a soldier named, Loopa. He's half African. He said."
Duchess gave me one pitiful look and went to fetch a glass of water.
"I don't get why I suddenly fell unto his hate list," I said. "I mean, I'm not hitting the targets alright. But he had this look that he's determined to grill me until I hit that stupid red dot."
"Now that's weird," she said. "You're the only one he's unleashed his power-tripping?" Duchess asked as she helped me up.
"Yeah," I nodded. "My friend Minnie and the rest were spared. I'm the worst."
I took the glass and put the aspirin in my mouth. I gulped it down as I chugged in the water.
"There's this girl," I told them. "You know Bee? I think she's famous."
"Oh yeah, she is," Teddy nodded. "She's that girl who challenged Sirita, our number one."
"Who won?" I asked.
"They were stopped by our Flex Teacher," Duchess took the glass from me. "But it was quite uptight, the fight. I thought Sirita's going to lose."
"She probably had if the fight continued," Teddy shrugged. "'Twas obvious."
"So what about her?" Duchess asked.
I exhaled and smiled weakly. "She's the best there is. She's a natural with guns. I could've been awed with her if I hadn't known her personality."
"Oh yeah?" they slumped. "What did she do?"
"She shot both moving and unmoving targets straight to the red dot. Also, when Private Stiles asked her to shoot a coin, she just shrugged it off did it."
"Did she miss?" Duchess asked.
"We were actually wishing she would," I said, grinning. "She took aim, and bam. The Private picked up the coin and stared at us through the whole."
"Wicked," the two of them chorused. Duchess bit her lip before saying she was going to take a bath. Teddy said she'd want a bath too. And they left.